


Picnic

by rowrowrowthatsme



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Anniversary, Drabble, Established Relationship, Fluff, How Do I Tag, Light Angst, M/M, set in camelot, soft boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24328633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowrowrowthatsme/pseuds/rowrowrowthatsme
Summary: Arthur is acting weird, and Merlin is determined to figure out why.
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 114





	Picnic

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! So this is my first fic on AO3 and my first Merlin fic, hope you enjoy!

Over the past few days, Merlin had felt something was off. He couldn’t figure out what, so he tried to ignore it, but the feeling wouldn’t go away.

Finally, on the morning of his first anniversary with Arthur, he figured out the problem: Arthur. He had been acting strangely lately, Merlin realized, sneaking around and avoiding him. 

‘Is he mad at me? Why would he be avoiding me, especially on our anniversary?’ He thought as he readied himself for the day. 

Merlin tried to be logical and figure out what might be troubling Arthur, but he couldn’t think of anything reasonable. He knew Arthur would never cheat on him, Camelot was not in any immediate danger, and Arthur wasn’t under any strange magical spells as far as he could tell. 

So, like any concerned boyfriend, Merlin decided to investigate. He began wandering the halls of the castle, searching for Arthur or one of his knights who may know his whereabouts. 

Suddenly, from the second story, he spotted Arthur in the courtyard. He was quickly making his way towards the palace kitchens, a cloak covering him as he looked around as if he were being followed. 

Merlin ran down the stairs and began to tail his boyfriend at a distance. He followed him all the way to the kitchens, growing more and more confused by the moment. When he saw Arthur go into one of the secondary kitchens, he stopped, unsure whether he should follow. Before Merlin could make his decision, he heard a sudden shout from the room followed by smoke flowing out. 

He dashed inside to see what the commotion was only to find Arthur pulling out of the oven something charred and unrecognizable. 

“Merlin! What are you doing here? How-how did you find me?” Arthur exclaimed, trying his best to hide the burnt remains.

Merlin looked around the room, still bewildered. He spotted a picnic basket on a nearby table. Turning to his king, he looked up at him in confusion. 

“What exactly is going on here?”

Arthur slammed the tray of ruined food onto the table in frustration, making Merlin jump. 

“I was trying to make us a picnic for our first anniversary. I wanted to cook for you, I wanted to make something for you. It was a bloody stupid idea in the first place, I should’ve just asked the cook to make us something for the picnic,” said Arthur. Merlin could tell he was trying to cover up his embarrassment, but he couldn’t help smiling at his boyfriend. At the sight of this, Arthur spluttered indignantly but was stopped before he could get a word out.

“Arthur, I know you think you messed up, but this is the greatest gift you could’ve given me for our anniversary,” Merlin smiled at Arthur lovingly. 

Arthur rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to lie just to make me feel better…” He mumbled, averting his gaze.

“I’m not lying. You tried to make something for me. You tried to do something yourself for me. You didn’t order around some servants and then expect all the glory. You made an effort for me, and I’ve never felt more loved.” Merlin walked over to Arthur and cupped his face, bringing their foreheads together. “Thank you,” Merlin whispered so only Arthur could hear.

Arthur huffed, but he didn’t pull away. “That doesn’t change the fact that we have no food now for our anniversary picnic. I still muddled everything up.”

Merlin gave him a devilish grin. “I think I might have a solution to that problem…” Merlin said in a sly voice. “Follow me, your majesty.”

Quickly and quietly, the pair snuck their way into the main palace kitchen where the head cook was preparing the midday meal. They began filling their basket with delicious-smelling food, everything from bread and cheese to pies and biscuits. 

Once they had filled their basket, they headed for the exit, only for the cook to walk in. 

“Run for it!” Merlin yelled, dragging Arthur behind him and dashing through the palace. The shouts and curses of the cook followed them as they rushed to the palace courtyard, laughing and out of breath like they were children again. 

Startling a stable boy, they mounted their already-prepared horses and rode off to the forest to enjoy their first of many anniversaries together.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this, I'd be so grateful if you leave comments and kudos~! Constructive criticism is also welcome :) I wrote this a couple of years back for a friend who was in the hospital and couldn't access the internet, so I wrote and mailed this to her and now I'm sharing it with all of you! I'm trying to get back into writing, I wrote a few fics on ff.net in high school but have only written one or two fics for friends since then. I've recently found inspiration to write a longer fic (for NCT not Merlin though) so hopefully this won't be my last post! Anyway thank you for reading <3


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